the_butterfly_princessfandomcom-20200214-history
Four
Quatre "Four" Wheeler was a human male living in Torlynn during the New Age. Through entirely no fault of his own, he ended up being one of the most significant players in the history of that time period. __TOC__ Early Life Four was born around unctual year 3868 in the town of Darkholm, to Roue and Argent Wheeler. He was born into a family with two older siblings, a brother named Zwierad and a sister, Gratis. He would later have several younger siblings as well—sister Fliegen, brother Perno, baby sister Diciotto, and baby brother Dois. As a youth, Four was best friends with Jenna Saiquois, whose family lived in Darkholm next door. They had known each other since infancy, and for a time they were inseparable. Eventually, however, they drifted apart. One of Four's favorite possessions as a child was a small plush toy named Floopy, made for him by his mother. Four's father was incarcerated when he was young, and his eldest brother succumbed to an illness when Four was thirteen years old. When his youngest siblings got older, his sisters got married and had children, while his brothers ventured into the world to seek their fortune; Four never heard from any of them again. Four had left Darkholm always planning to return to it after he'd become a success. After the town had been destroyed, however, he realized there was little sense in ever returning. As a child, he was teased and often called Four-Eyes due to the large, thick spectacles he wore. He took the nickname and shortened it to Four, a name that he would continue to use throughout his adult life. Despite having the surname Wheeler, Four was not particularly skilled at the assembly or manufacture of cart wheels. One of Four's most cherished possessions was his worn, rusted, iron dagger, which he'd owned since he was ten years of age. He carried it to look threatening, though he predominantly used it as a tool for carving or preparing food. He also carried a grappling hook that he had acquired at age fifteen. Another of his most valued belongings was his dragonskin vest, which he had won in a game of xoo around unctual year 3885, and usually wore at all times. He was also armed with hidden glove traps inside his leather gauntlets. Four had brown eyes, a slight build, and was not nearly as devastatingly handsome as he believed himself to be. Despite this, he had a thing for the ladies, and what he lacked in natural charisma, he more than made up for with dogged determination. Special Power Four possessed the ability to make women fall in love with him. For a time, he was himself unaware of this ability, as it apparently manifested itself subconsciously. It appeared to work on Dwarves and Pixies and moth people, as well as other humans, but did not affect butterfly people. The Lost Treasure of Torlynn At 19 years of age, Four came into a small inheritance and decided to invest it in the reconstruction of the old pirate ship once owned by Captain "Peg-Face" Cleaver. As the primary financial contributor to the restoration project, Four technically owned the ship, but he deferred leadership of the expedition to Captain Anselm, who claimed to have far more experience. After Darkholm was attacked by moths, the crew was promised a large payment from King Papillon of Torlynn Castle for the capture and delivery of any aerials they found. Four was content to work aboard the Mermaid's Bliss as a powder monkey, during which time he met Christabel Miller, who had agreed to work on board the ship in place of her drunken father. Four and Christabel quickly became inseparable, a bond that was cemented when Four rescued Christabel after falling off the ship. When the Mermaid's Bliss was attacked by moth warriors, the crew was carried off the ship by the moths and dropped in the Darklands, intenting to kill the humans. Four, wounded and suffering from loss of blood, fell unconscious and was left for dead. He was revived by the butterfly princess, who discovered him while foraging for berries. Upon his revival, the butterfly princess asked him, "Mah reh poh sah?" w''hich translates in the butterfly language to "Are you feeling well?" Four believed that she was identifying herself as Mariposa, and would continue to use that name for the butterfly princess. Four quickly fell in love with Mariposa, due in no small part to her tendency to walk around nearly nude, but also because of her quirky, unique outlook and manner of speech. Mariposa agreed to help Four find his way back to Darkholm. After Four insisted on taking a shortcut through a cave, they encountered a ravenous pack of brain-eaters, and Four was forced to administer first aid after Mariposa was stung. After returning to Mariposa's secret forest home for supplies, they discovered that the butterfly people had disappeared. Believing the moths to be responsible, Four and Mariposa traveled to the Golden Desert where they found Christabel being held captive. Four rescued her, but after their reunion, Mariposa grew cold and distant and left the two to fend for themselves. Four and Christabel built a raft to travel to Mermaid Island in order to recover the ''Mermaid's Bliss and attempt to salvage it, and ended up spending several weeks there. They attempted to dislodge the ship by detonating barrels of gunpowder aboard the ship, but the resultant explosion blew a hole in the hull. The sound of the blast alerted Mariposa as well as a clan of forest pixies, who helped themselves to the fermented beverages aboard the ship and, in exchange, repaired the ship. Determined to help Mariposa find her missing people, and suspecting that humans may have been responsible, Four traveled with Mariposa and Christabel to the ruins of Darkholm. After learning that Torlynn Castle had inexplicably waged war against the aerial races, Mariposa urged Four to travel to the castle to learn the true reasons for this seemingly bizarre turn of events. Four took Mariposa to the castle, pretending to have captured her, in order to infiltrate the castle and perhaps discover its connection to the missing butterflies. King Papillon confirmed that he was at war with the Moth People and gladly took Mariposa captive. As an honored guest of the castle, Four was tended to by Deorwynn, the castle chamberlain, who was unabashedly attracted to him and was not shy about her assigned duties to bathe and clothe him. Four learned that Mariposa was scheduled for execution in the castle's tournament arena, and ensured that he was present when she was brought out for her fight against a dragon beetle. Four interfered with the fight when he threw a weapon to her and again when he jumped into the arena and helped her to subdue the beast. He bluffed his way out of the arena by warning King Papillon that Mariposa had an army of tens of thousands of Butterfly People who would attack if the king failed to release them. Four and Mariposa were forcibly escorted from the castle. It was then that Four learned of Mariposa's feelings for him, but also that she had a mate and a child. Having learned that the king was shipping all the gold from the arena proceeds to a location somewhere in the Swordedge Mountains, Four convinced Mariposa to travel to the mountains discover if there was a connection to the war against the aerials. Christabel, meanwhile, had heard rumors about "slaves with wings" living in the mountains and, suspecting a butterfly connection, had rebuilt the Mermaid's Bliss into a dirigible capable of aerial flight in order to travel over the mountain range. It was there that the three discovered Forever the dragon, who had made a deal with the king to accept shipments of gold in exchange for a vial of dragon's blood, which would grant the king, in his failing health, virtual immortality. Forever refused to get involved in mortal affairs, though he did give Four a jeweled sword that he wasn't especially fond of, which Four decided should belong to Mariposa. Forever carried the Mermaid's Bliss back to Torlynn soil, where it finally dawned on Four that the reason Papillon knew and understood the difference between moths and butterflies was because he'd seen them both before. Realizing that the surviving butterflies must have been somewhere in the castle, Four convinced Mariposa to travel to the Golden Desert to seek help from the moths. They were attacked in the air en route, resulting in their capture and the unfortunate destruction of the Mermaid's Bliss. The moth leader, Lord Xarzuss, forcibly extracted the common tongue from Four's mind before addressing them, refusing to cooperate with the butterflies. After Four explained to Xarzuss how Torlynn's king had manipulated the moths into going to war in order to fill the king's pockets, Xarzuss recuctantly agreed to a temporary alliance on the condition that Mariposa surrender herself afterwards. Four and company were successful in reaching King Papillon, who momentarily seized the advantage when he swiped a vial of dragon's blood from Christabel and drank it. When he also took Mariposa's cursed sword, however, a volley of moth arrows pierced the king's body and he fell out of a window. Four accompanied Mariposa to the dungeon, picking the lock and freeing what remained of the butterfly people. With no heir apparent to the throne, Deorwynn suggested that Four become the new ruler of Torlynn. He accepted, appointing Christabel as his aide, who became the Minister of Science. He was initially unsuccessful in persuading Mariposa to live with him in the castle, and was forced to endure her absence for a year, spending the time converting the tournament arena into a habitable forest. He fell into a deep depression following Christabel's death, but shortly thereafter Mariposa returned to the castle and finally accepted Four's proposal, agreeing to live with him as his Queen. The Quest for the World-Breaker During his tenure as King of Torlynn, Four depended heavily upon the input of Deorwynn, who served as his advisor in the country's affairs. Four had forged a treaty with the Moth Dominion in an effort to prevent future incursions to the world of Men. After moths began attacking neighboring towns, however—coupled with the theft of Christabel's unfinished airship, the Butterfly's Flight, from the castle courtyard—Four felt compelled to take action. Despite Deorwynn's protests, Four assembled the Royal Knights, and Knight Captain Brian Devonhyre, and launched a strike against the Golden Desert. During the ensuing battle, Four prepared to engage High Priestess Axziss in melee combat, but he was captured and carried off by her bodyguard, Syxx. Four attacked her in mid-air and they both fell, tumbling into a river that ran through the Swordedge Mountains and carrying them both into an underground cave. Four was knocked unconscious but awakened about a day later inside the cave, with a hungry Syxx contemplating eating him. When the cavern began to fill with water, Four and Syxx agreed to set aside their differences and developed a plan to escape. Though Four couldn't hold his breath long enough to swim the distance on his own, and Syxx was incapable of swimming altogether, they realized that if she periodically breathed air into his mouth while they were still underwater, they could successfully survive the several-mile journey to the river's end. They emerged in the marsh lands many miles away from home, with Syxx nursing a damaged wing. They agreed to travel together and help each other get home. During the journey, Syxx saved Four from dying after ingesting poison mushrooms. Four began to see Syxx not as an enemy moth, but a young and vulnerable woman, albeit one with hostility issues. Syxx and Four parted ways on friendly terms several days later after her wing healed. When Four stumbled upon a clearing in which the stolen Butterfly's Flight had landed for repairs, he boarded the ship and met somebody who looked just like Christabel, but was promptly assaulted by her goblin crewmen, stabbed in the gut, and thrown off the ship. Syxx, who had been drawn by the sounds of the ship's propellers, caught him in mid-air, saving his life again. Syxx revealed that the ship and its crew had been hunting for the scattered pieces of something called the World-Breaker, a terrible and powerful weapon, and that the moths had been searching for the same thing. After Four mentioned being the current King of Torlynn, Syxx became enraged, blaming him for the death of Lord Xarzuss, and flew off angrily. Returning to Torlynn Castle, Four was intercepted by Lady Deorwynn, who informed him that his marriage to Mariposa had been dissolved on the grounds that she was not human. Deorwynn claimed that Mariposa had been relieved and had asked never to see Four again, though this would later be revealed to be part of Deorwynn's deception designed to keep the two apart. When Deorwynn proposed that Four take her as his new wife, Four was aghast at the prospect. Deorwynn threatened to expose Four as a common thief if he refused, but Four stood his ground, renouncing his claim to the throne and storming off. Four made his way to Kingsbridge, just across the border of Torlynn's influence, where he owned some land. He encountered a homeless child who identified herself as Talla Unica. With her parents dead or missing, Four reluctantly agreed to let her travel with him. Along a mountain path en route to Darkholm, Four and Talla discovered the unconscious and nearly-dead body of Syxx, who had been exiled by the moths and deposited on the trail. Four and Talla took Syxx to Darkholm to heal. Four took a job at the Slip Right Inn tavern to pay for the room where Syxx recuperated, while Talla came and went and occasionally brought back herbal remedies to facilitate Syxx's recovery, eventually disappearing altogether. After the innkeeper Erasmus was found with Four's dagger in his back, though, Four was forced to flee with Syxx. They made it to Richmond, where Four and Syxx spent part of the night until being ambushed by a swarm of air snakes. Four was bitten by one of them in the skirmish, but Syxx came to his rescue yet again, drawing the venom. Opting to take a shortcut across the bridge that spanned the Great Divide, they discovered Talla Unica trying to leap—or fly?—across the chasm. Syxx took a dive into the chasm to save her, coming to rest at the bridge and encountering a waiting Brian Devonhyre, who had been traveling with Mariposa. Under orders to keep Four and Mariposa separated, Brian cut the rope bridge with Four still on it, eventually causing Four to fall into the Great Divide. His fall was broken by a gigantic honeycomb and he encountered a heretofore undiscovered race of Bee People, ostensibly an offshoot race of Butterfly People. They gave chase, and a honey-soaked Four was sticky enough to be able to ascend the walls of the chasm until he was rescued by the airship Xanthippe (the renamed Butterfly's Flight) and its captain, Mirabel Miller. Mirabel, the elder sister of Christabel, had arranged for Forever the dragon to bring her the ship, feeling that it was her rightful property. Mirabel was using the ship, and the infant dragon named Baby she kept below decks, to search for pieces of the World-Breaker and invited Four to help her find them. Four, longing for a sense of belonging and a chance to do some good, accepted her proposal. They successfully recovered three of the four pieces of the World-Breaker before a goblin mutiny broke out. Four released Baby in an attempt to quell the uprising, but in the end, the rebellion forced Four and Mirabel aboard the aerial life boat, landing in Torlynn. Four arrived to discover Talla Unica being arrested for the murder of the inkeeper. Thinking quickly, Four confessed to the crime, freeing Talla and allowing himself to be locked away. It had been his intention to pick the lock and rejoin Mirabel, but instead he found himself trapped by a pick-proof lock that he, himself, had commissioned. Deorwynn arrived to demand that he sign legislation that would make her the next heir to the throne, but just then Baby arrived and broke through the cell, freeing Four, and pantomiming gestures that helped Four to realize that she was, in fact, Christabel reborn—that Mirabel had imprisoned her own sister. After the goblins arrived with Xanthippe, Four used the castle trebuchet to propel himself on board the airship to confront Mirabel. She revealed her plans to use the World-Breaker to destroy the Moon, whose orbit had been disrupted and was on a collision course with Earth, and that the final piece was buried beneath Torlynn Castle. Four descended into the depths of the castle where he found the badly-wounded Deorwynn, whose face had been bitten off by the goblins during the initial attack. Making his way to the sub-basement of the castle, he found Mirabel and the final piece of the weapon. Mirabel shot him with a spent breech-loader, expelling the remnants of its shrapnel into his gut, and absconded with the final piece. Baby came to his aid once again, serving as his aerial steed as she gobbled up moth warriors and reuniting him, at long last, with Mariposa. When Four attempted to bring her up to speed about the World-Breaker, Mariposa initiated llenleth so Four could quickly communicate the information. A stray mental blast from Baby hit the two during their mental link, however, creating a telepathic state in which they revealed to each other their secret fantasies: Mariposa secretly wished that Four were dead so that she would no longer have to long for him during his absence; Four wished that Mariposa were human so that the culture gap between them no longer existed. After Syxx sacrified herself to destroy the World-Breaker, Four expressed his concerns to Forever about the fate of Baby. Forever said he would take Baby under his wing, but also said that he would not prolong her existence if she did not wish it. Four was invited to the new butterfly settlement that Mariposa had discovered during her travels. Four felt like an outsider, but he was prepared to accept it as his new home—at least, until Mariposa revealed that he had been invited as a guest only, and that the butterfly king would not permit him to live there. Despondent, Four departed, uncertain of where he would go. The Curse of the Fate Shifter Four wandered aimlessly for thirteen months or more until he wound up in a small town called Guttersworth, outside of Torlynn's borders. After impressing the shopkeeper of the Skeleton's Key with his technical proficiency, he was hired to work at the repair shop. Due in part to his lockpicking experience, he demonstrated a proficiency at understanding and fixing mechanical devices (though he was by the complexity of a pedalmobile). He worked alongside Rouge, with whom he had a less-than-cordial working relationship. >When Rouge discovered that her father had gone missing, Four (beleagured by his previous adventures) was at first reluctant to help but eventually agreed to help her search for him. During his investigation, he discovered a wayward moth warrior skulking around the town. When he gave chase, the moth unexpectedly used sorcery to propel itself into the sky and eluded capture. Four encountered a Pixie named Wazzipaloo, who had been sent by Pixie clan leader Nyx to hunt for him. When she explained that she had been sent because Mariposa was looking for him, Four was reluctant to acquiesce and sent her on her way. Later, Four returned to the repair shop to find Rouge, who unbeknownst to Four had been accosted and infiltrated by a brain-eating zom. At first, Four was confused by Rouge's strange behavior, but when the last vestiges of her consciousness broke through and tried to kill him, he was forced to respond in force. Rouge tumbled off a cliff, and the zom escaped her ruined body. A grieving Four dug Rouge's grave by hand and buried her. Four was then approached by the Ancient One, who offered Four the use of a relic called a fate-shifter to undo some of the tragedy that had befallen him. Four was skeptical at first, but after using the relic to pluck a stuffed toy named Floopy from his childhood days, Four was convinced of its power. He immediately began using the relic to try to rewrite key events from his life. It was around this time that Wazzipaloo revealed to Four that all humans had special powers, and that his specific limerent ability caused females to fall in love with him. He began to question his past relationships, particularly that with Mariposa, wondering if her love was sincere. Four continued to undo past events, attempting to save the lives of his dearest companions—first Rouge, then Syxx, then Christabel. The more changes he made, though, he found the more damage he was doing to reality. Perhaps this had been the Ancient One's plan all along—for he eventually presented himself to Four once more, asking Four to use the fate-shifter to undo the conditions that had led to the Ancient One's imprisonment. In exchange, the Ancient One promised that all the changes Four had made would be reversed. Four professed to agree to these terms, but instead, he went back and attempted to undo the Ancient One's release from his tomb in Stonekeep altogether. Four discovered that it was Mirabel who had released him, and in this new unfolding of reality, convinced her not to. When the Dwarves discovered the talisman she had dropped at the scene, they concluded that the Elves had attempted to free the Ancient One and decided to go to war. They launched the Giant, and—thanks to Mirabel's powers of persuation—Four and Mirabel ended up being recruited to serve on board. Pretending to be loyal to the Dwarves, Four and Mirabel crawled through the Giant, along with Syzygy, planning to reach the control center and take command. At one point, they even ventured outside the Giant, planning to hitch a ride on the food barrels that would be carried directly to the head module. To their surprise, they bumped into Mariposa and an Elf named Arienne, who had entered the Giant on their own and had attempted to sabotage it. Four freed the captured Faerie the Dwarves had been using to send telepathic commands to the Giant's other body parts, but when this failed to stop it from moving, Four and the others were extracted from the Giant by Forever the dragon. Eventually, the Elves used a levitation spell and, with the help of the Dwarves and the butterfly people, cast the Giant into space. In the aftermath of the encounter, Four confessed to Mariposa his limerent ability, only for Mariposa to reveal that she was already aware of it, and that it had no effect upon her—that she loved him because of who he was. During the ride home, however, the Ancient One presented himself to Four again, reminding him this was merely one alternate unfolding of reality. Four responded by throwing the fate-shifter to the ground, shattering reality itself. He encountered impossible things—the death of Rouge, the destruction of Syxx, and human Christabel being consumed by dragon Christabel. He also encountered multiple Syzygys in varying states of repair, and reached for his disembodied arm and leg. Washed in fate-shifter energy and temporarily endowed with its powers, Four possessed the ability to piece together a new reality from the fragments. Eventually, a disheveled Four found himself back in Guttersworth, the reality that he knew seemingly gone forever. For a time, he resided with the vagrants of Guttersworth and found himself on the receiving end of Rouge's generosity. When he met up with Wazzipaloo's scouting party, however, the Pixie didn't recognize him. Four realized he needed to make one final intervention to set things right, and revisited the moth attack on the Mermaid's Bliss. He caught up with a drunken, young version of himself who had been fleeing from the moths. The older Four stabbed the younger Four, causing him the wounds that would render the younger Four unconscious and, eventually, lead to his meeting with Mariposa. Four's new reality incorporated the encounter with the Giant, and his reunion with Mariposa. He was confused by this new patchwork version of reality, but thankful for what fate had given him. Alternate Reality (Various) The first change Four attempted to make was to go back and undo Rouge's death. He arrived at the Skeleton's Key moments before her fateful zom encounter, only this time he armed himself with Mr. Tennyson's blunderbuss and blasted the zom to pieces. Four inadvertently committed a social faux pas in identifying Rouge by her real name, Lorelle (in this new unfolding of events, she had not yet revealed this private information to him) but he was nonetheless satisfied that he had saved her from an untimely demise. He then proceeded to undo Syxx's death. During his first attempt, he traveled back to Syxx's visit in White Mesa and inadvertantly caused the avalanche that had nearly claimed her life. The second time, he found her and convinced her not to sacrifice herself; in this new unfolding of events, it was Mariposa who carried the World-Breaker into the sky, where it detonated and destroyed her. In an attempt to undo this even greater tragedy, Four realized he could travel back even farther before the parts of the World-Breaker were found and assembled. After failing with the Dwarves of Stonekeep (they wanted nothing to do with him) and the Pixies of the Darklands (he accidentally got an alternate version of Wazzipaloo executed), he snuck on board the Xanthippe and sabotaged its anchor. In this new version of events, Xanthippe never recovered the World-Breaker fragment from Copycat Rock, and the world was saved. Four made multiple attempts to save Christabel from dying. He tried to plant a suggestion in her mind to convince her that drinking the blood of a dragon was a bad idea, but young Christabel didn't believe in dragons and he had been unable to successfully persuade her. He even tried to kidnap a young version of her and abscond with her to 3891, but Christabel's absence from the timeline created more problems than it solved. At some point during his attempts to save Christabel, Four accidentally left Wazzipaloo behind in one of the alternate timelines. Four also tried to prevent his brother Zwierad from dying of malnutrition. He traveled back to his childhood days and anonymously donated a small bag of gold to his ailing family. (He also encountered a six-year-old version of himself.) Upon returning, he found that without Zwierad's death to motivate him in this alternate reality, Four had never gone on any adventures and had never met Mariposa or any of his other closest companions. Before he could make further corrections, Four was accosted by a much older version of himself—warning Four of the dangers of making any additional changes. The older Four had blamed the moths for problems in the timeline so he had undone the creation of the Great Divide in an attempt to prevent them from coming into existence. Using the other Four's fate-shifter, Four escaped. Embarrassment of Riches Four lived with Mariposa in the butterfly settlement, spending his time teaching Gusano how to wield a sword. He longed to spend more time with Mariposa, however, who had many responsibilities and also spent a great deal of time communicating telepathically with her Elf friend, Arienne. At one point, he and Mariposa investigated rumors of dragons near the town of Stockwood, hoping to track down the wayward Christabel. They found Forever and Christabel locked in aerial combat, a fight which resulted in Forever's death. In 3892, at the tenth annual Torlynn Fair, Four was reunited with Jenna Saiquois, whom he hadn't seen since he was a child. Delighted at their reacquaintance, he quickly introduced her to Mariposa, who seemed jealous over their friendship. Mariposa later revealed to Four that she had attempted to read Jenna's mind telepathically only to find part of her mind magically shielded. Determined to learn the truth and exonerate his friend, Four went to visit Jenna, accompanied by Wazzipaloo, who brought with her a magic-nullifying sphere. The sphere appeared to dissipate the spell over Jenna's mind, and she revealed that she had been put under a spell by Deorwynn, who had intended to lead Four into a trap. Jenna also revealed that Four's sister, Fliegen, had been captured as well. Deorwynn had been conducting bizarre magical experiments on creatures, and they feared Fliegen might be the next test subject. Determined to save his sister and stop Deorwynn once and for all, Four also recognized that Deorwynn's experiments could hold the cure to Christabel's condition. He gathered together as many friends as he could convince to help him. Jenna agreed to lead them to the Forgotten Basin, Deorwynn's base of operations, where after some brief reconnaissance, Four and his group moved in. Surrounded by blood-sucking mosquito people and fierce moth warriors, Four and company fought their way through the aerials but were eventually subdued. Four was tied down in coagulated blood shackles and forced to listen to Deorwynn's insane schemes to drain his blood and use it to power her own magic. When he used his spring traps to break free, he quickly grabbed Deorwynn's magical scepter, intending to use it against her. Instead, the scepter created a magical portal through which Four, Maripiosa, Talla Unica, and Syzygy were pulled. Four and Mariposa found themselves in an unknown land that was barren and deserted and nearly inhospitable. After observing a strange, egg-shaped floating machine, Four lassoed it with his grappling hook, suspecting it to be magical in nature and hoping it would lead him to Deorwynn. Instead, the machine turned out to be a delivery drone, carrying a parcel of groceries to the Halcyon Heights apartment complex. Four and Mariposa were dragged into the complex and soon found themselves face-to-face with a girl living there named Birthday. After a disabled Syzygy and Talla Unica made their way to the complex, Four effected repairs to Syzygy. Ironically, while Birthday was enthralled with Four's stories of dragons and wizards and sorcery, Four admitted that his life was exhausting and that he longed for a good rest. Birthday lived a lonely existence and longed for companionship, but Four, who remained devoted to Mariposa, spurned her advances. Four and company left the complex, sending Talla Unica and Syzygy to hunt for idento-chips so they could function in Birthday's world while Four and Mariposa continued to look for a way home. They soon encountered the bounty hunters Brian and Mirabel, agents of Deorwynn whose dog, Meat, had tracked them to the megalopolis. The bounty hunters threatened to advance, but a sudden rain storm forced them to postpone the fight. When Four encountered another flying drone, it had learned from the first drone's experience and refused to allow Four to lasso it. He proceeded to whack it with his satchel, which contained a piece of the airship's lodestone, whose magnetic properties disabled the drone. Four attempted to escape with Mariposa, who was weak from malnutrition, before he succumbed to the heat and passed out. Four awakened back at Birthday's place, with Mariposa still unconscious. Desperate to get Mariposa the treatment she needed to live, Four suggested choking Birthday to unconsciousness, prompting medical drones to arrive and transport her to the hospital. Birthday agreed. Four swapped Birthday's prone body for Mariposa's, stowing away on board the ambulance as it took her to Hobbs Hospital. Upon arrival, Four reacted in shock as the drones sliced off Mariposa's damaged wing. They sedated him, forcing him to pick the locks to escape. When he found Mariposa, she was physically repaired but remained unconscious, communicating with him telepathically. He shared with her an idea of how they might yet defeat Deorwynn—if Mariposa were pregnant with Four's child, the additional life essence within her would make her even more powerful. After Brian and Mirabel tracked them to the hospital, Four was forced to flee. He ran to the roof of the hospital where he was shot with Mirabel's pulse gun, stunning him and causing him to fall off the building. He landed in the unfinished construction site, a steel beam impaling him through the head. Medical drones arrived to collect his body, but the grey goo within his system had already mapped his body and had begun piecing his brain back together artificially. He was taken to the recovery wing, remaining there for several months while he relearned how to walk and talk, but he eventually made a full physical recovery. His idento-chip lacked sufficient credit to settle the hospital bill, however, so he fled the hospital with enforcement drones in hot pursuit. He stole a black-clad outfit to protect him from the harsh winter environment as well as an electro-lance to defend himself from the drones. They caught up to him in the megalopolis, and he battled them until Mariposa detected him and helped him defeat them. In the aftermath, Mariposa was relieved he was alive, but also furious at him—finally expressing that ambushing Deorwynn was a horrible decision that had forever stranded them. Four was suitably apologetic. He explained what had happened and postulated that the grey goo had enabled him to survive. Together, they returned to Halcyon Heights. Celebrating Christmas, Birthday invited Four and the others to participate in an interactive simulation called Space Attack. While Birthday played the role of Captain on board the space ship'' Centennial,'' Four served as Lieutenant. When the tether cable to Mariposa's drop pod was cut and she was stranded on the planet below, surrounded by hungry lizard aliens, Four broke ranks and stole a lifeboat to rescue her. Four expressed confusion when the simulation ended, as he had lost sight of the fact that it was all an illusion. After Four and Mariposa observed that Persephone seemed to be announcing an emergency every time they mentioned meeting one of Birthday's neighbors, Four began to doubt the existence of Birthday's friends. To prove him wrong, Birthday invitied Eidolon to come up for a visit. Four answered the door and promptly punched him in the nose. In the aftermath, Four admitted that he might have been wrong, until Syzygy pointed out that the reason Four had been unable to wash Eidolon's blood off his gloves was because it had been a holographic projection. Four eventually realized that the group's best chance of returning to the New Age was to get themselves incarcerated and put into cryonic stasis, allowing them to wait out the Cataclysm and awaken in their own era. With Persephone's guidance, they attempted to subdue a drone, remove its battery, and detonate it, destroying Diamond Bridge as a terrorist act. The plan failed, and the drones' learning capability prevented them from tricking one and trying a second time. Four later realized they could skip being incarcerated and head directly for the cryonics lab. They arrived to find Talla Unica and Syzygy, who had already destroyed the drones working there in anticipation of their arrival. Four was put into cryonic sleep along with Mariposa and Talla Unica, with Syzygy watching over the controls. The Veil of Souls As the centuries passed in real life, the unconscious Four experienced dream after dream. He was able to telepathically commune with Mariposa while in this state, and together the two navigated the dreamsphere and attempted to emerge from it. He had forgotten much of what had happened to him during the Old Age, at least until dream representations of Syzygy and Talla Unica clued him in. At one point within this shared dream, Four and Mariposa experienced tremors so strong that they suspected it was something being experienced by their sleeping bodies. They would later come to realize that they were enduring the Cataclysm. Four recruited the help of a dreamsphere version of Christabel, who offered to serve as a guide to Four and Mariposa's journey to regain consciousness. Christabel was forced to transform into a dragon in order to carry them to their destination, however. The dragon demanded their lives as payment, killing Mariposa within the dream. Four, armed with a dragon-killing dragonium lance, was forced to fight and kill Christabel in order to avenge Mariposa. It was only afterwards that Four realized Mariposa's death was not permanent. Four was not looking forward to his next real-life meeting with the dragon. Eventually, Mariposa found herself face-to-face with a dreamsphere version of Deorwynn. Unable to participate in a contest of magic, Four could do little but watch. The dreamsphere Deorwynn began to systematically eliminate everything in existence, up to and including the Earth, leaving Four and Mariposa floating in space. Deorwynn created a vortex that enveloped Four and Mariposa. It was at this moment that they were awakened from their cryo-sleep. Four emerged disoriented, but recognized Brian and Mirabel, the bounty hunters, as the authors of his suffering. He threatened to kill them, brandishing his dagger, until they assured him they had betrayed Deorwynn and had gone to great lengths to recover and revive him. Mariposa and Talla Unica were likewise revived. Syzygy revealed that Birthday has also been put into stasis after attacking him, but her pod had malfunctioned and her body had not survived. All that remained of her was the neurosphere that had replaced her brain; Four pocketed the device. After the group was rescued by Jenna aboard the castle-ship that would later be named the Endeavor, Four recognized it as a means by which he could collect all the keystone scepter components and enable Mariposa to use it to destroy Deorwynn. He was less enthusiastic about the goblin Guzzler serving on board the ship, however. Four's first visit was to Breckenridge, intending to make the museum curator Luanda Moon fall in love with him and hand over the fabled gemstone. He offered to buy it or borrow it, but she was uncooperative. After Hissy-Fitt started breaking museum displays, Four cut his losses and stole the gemstone. Infuriated at Mirabel's performance, Four warned her to stay in the engine room and not to go on any more missions. At that moment, the castle-ship began to shudder and falter. Four eventually realized that Mirabel's mood was affecting the ship's ability to fly, so he was forced to apologize, expressing a fondness for her he hadn't realized he had been harboring. After the dragon Dreadnaught attacked Endeavor, Four's first instinct was to fight back. When Arienne's magic failed to do the job, and hitting the dragon with cannonballs or the ship's anchor didn't work, he called the retreat and plunged the ship into the South Oceanic. They later emerged with a slightly damaged but still functional castle-ship. Four resolved to be more careful, taking the ship into the air only when necessary. Having acquired several of the focusing crystals, Four and Jenna and Mirabel traveled to Porticus Umbra to recover the sunstone. They offered Syzygy as a gift to their ruler, the Duke of Monticello. The plan had been for Syzygy to seize the stone when no one was looking, but the Duke summarily discarded Syzygy in the garbage, prompting a rescue. Once inside the town, Four and Jenna tried to climb the elementium statue to capture the sunstone, but Jenna fell, killing one of the guards. The group was later rescued by the'' Endeavor'' and fled. On the mission to Wyvern's Nest, Four confronted Berkeley Brentley and a group of academy graduates from the local Arkingston school. They had heard of the Endeavor crew's quest to recover the keystone scepter fragments and came to stop the theft of the brimstone. After moth warriors unexpectedly showed up and killed the academy students, Four was free to collect the storehouse of gold in Wyvern's Nest and flee. Finally, mutineers attempted to remove Four as Captain, throwing him in the brig. Mariposa remained to discuss terms with Arienne, finally agreeing that removing Four was for the best. After Mariposa assumed command of the ship, Four conspired with Talla Unica to continue collecting the crystal fragments. On pretense of needing to repair the ship, they stopped in Xalvador's Folly to collect the headstone. When the ship was drawn towards Ersatz Island in the clouds, Four confronted Broccus, who warned the crew of the dangers in reassembling the scepter. Four snatched the keystone from the wizard's coronet and fled, as Broccus merely laughed at the irony that he still had no idea who held the scepter. Later, Four used Hissy-Fitt to try to sniff out the scepter, leading him right to Syzygy and his knight's armor. The armor had been holding the scepter in its hand the entire time; an enchantment had been cast to make it appear invisible. Now ready to face Deorwynn, Four headed for the volcano in the Forgotten Basin. When Syzygy announced that Jax had ordered him to dump the fuel off the ship, Mirabel suggested crashing into the volcano summit instead. As their altitude faltered, they revised the plan to crash-land into the magma surrounding the volcano, dumping the gold from Wyvern's Nest at the last minute to provide a softer landing. Once outside, Four and Mirabel tangled with the cadavers that Deorwynn had reanimated. Four even encountered the corpse of Rouge, and was forced to dispense with her in the magma surrounding the volcano. After fighting their way through and entering the volcano, Four squared off against Deorwynn. After he bragged that he'd become even smarter since his trip to the Old Age, Deorwynn magically extracted his neurosphere and destroyed it. He fell to the ground, unconscious. In the aftermath of the fight, it fell to Mirabel and Guzzler to collect Four's body and search for someone who might be able to help him. Trivia Four's birthday was in March. Four evidently spent some time playing Lawyers & Lawsuits (Advanced Edition) during the events of The Veil of Souls, as a half-asleep Four at one point tried to argue, in character, that his client was the original creator of Tiny Wooden Hand-Carved Grimalkins. Behind the Scenes The author wanted to give the lead male character an unusual name. He liked the idea of a character with a number for a name, like Six from the television series Blossom '' or Seven from ''Star Trek: Voyager or Thirteen from the series House. He chose the name Four, unaware that it was already being used. Four's surname name is a silly joke, since it references a type of real-life vehicle that couldn't possibly exist in the neo-medieval setting of the Butterfly Princess novels. His birth name, Quatre, means "four" in French, so his given name still translates to "four wheeler." (The names of his various other family members take the joke and run with it.) Four's unusual limerent powers were, in part, an in-story explanation as to why the various female characters in the e-books seem to keep falling head over heels for the guy. Four will appear in the sixth book, Invasion of the Thought Stealers. Category:Persons Category:Rulers Category:Thieves Category:Humans Category:Pirates Category:Arena Gladiators Category:Main Characters Category:Wheeler Family